Hyundai i30 Sedan N powers to a joint fourth-place at MOTOR’s Sports Car of the Year 2022

It’s yet another winning product from Namyang with the Hyundai i30 Sedan N proving to be a competent on-road Sports Car of the Year contender.

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This. Is. Demented. Your first acquaintance with the Hyundai i30 Sedan N will probably leave a lasting impression. If you can wick everything up into N mode and hoof the car up a challenging road and not emerge giggling like an idiot, you’re dead inside. The neurotic steering, the outrageous pop-bang map and the sheer front-end grip makes this four-door fiend feel as if it’s operating at a level of intensity far beyond anything else in the SCOTY field.

Hyundai has done a great job infusing this car with bags of character and when everything is tamped down into a softer mode, there’s real duality of character. The extra wheelbase over the hatch manifests in superior ride quality but slightly less playful dynamics. It’s a great road car. But so sharp does it feel that we expected even more of it on track. After the road loops, the i30 N Sedan was trending towards the top of the SCOTY set.

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On track it was the quickest car we had after the outlier Mustang and the special sauce GR Yaris Rallye. Despite that, every judge got out, handed the keys over and never got into the Hyundai again. Its handling seemed a little prescriptive, its longer wheelbase tempering its exuberance rather than letting you freestyle like the berserker Focus ST.

The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres are a great choice, but they seemed to outperform the brakes; the pedal going long in fairly short order. Testers liked the crisp eight-speed DCT but noted that the steering needed knocking back a notch into its middle setting to knock the uncouth edges off corner entry and exit.

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There was also a vast disparity between the anodyne on-throttle acoustics and the off-throttle sound effects. Ultimately, it felt as if it had driven clean out of its excitement envelope on the circuit.

“Is that it?” asked Giunco, wondering where much of the naughty on-road aural drama had disappeared to in the wide open spaces of Phillip Island. “You do a couple of laps and then you don’t feel as if you need to get in again,” said Luffy. “There’s not a lot more to it.”

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One champion of the i30 N Sedan was Bernie, who placed the i30 second, pipped only by the Focus ST. “This is such a bloody well resolved car. It would be mega with another 50-100Nm,” he enthused. Still, joint fourth overall and just a sniff from the podium seemed a fair result for the four-door N-car.

Strangely, for one of the very few cars that’s sold with a trackday warranty, it’s probably a better road car than it is a circuit tool. For the majority of owners, that’ll be more than enough.

The judge’s comment

Alex Affat

“I’m a big fan of this i30. Outright performance is best in class and it’s the comfiest of all the N cars”

Ranking: 6th

Andy Enright

“Yes, pop-bang exhaust maps are juvenile and obnoxious but, but... am I a terrible person?”

Ranking: 6th

Trent Giunco

“The i30 has a great front end and the LSD allows it to power out cleanly. Too many drive modes though”

Ranking: 6th

Cameron Kirby

“The i30 N Sedan is here for one purpose: to go fast and feel confidence-inspiring when doing so”

Ranking: 6th

Bernie Quinn

“The engine’s not as torquey as the Ford Focus ST but the i30 has a slightly more rewarding top end”

Ranking: 2nd

Luffy’s view

“This car is really fast, but it’s not as engaging as the Focus or the BRZ. The rear is stiff in track mode. You need to treat it with respect”

The key figures